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Abstract

Economic data concerning the costs and benefits of Inuit subsistence in the Igloolik region of Nunavut were collected during the summer of 1992. The purpose of the research was to develop a method of valuation to showcase the high "profit", in economic terms, that harvested country food provides.

Wildlife harvesting in Inuit communities represents a traditional way of life which is threatened by the increasing expansion of wage employment, industrial development and the availability of store bought food. However, rather than having a marginalizing effect, these changes make subsistence hunting an essential economic activity.

This thesis develops a method to measure the harvest of country food through a dollar value standard thus quantifying the real economic benefits of Inuit subsistence. The value of harvested food can then be compared economically to store bought food. This comparison shows that subsistence hunting provides Inuit with a relatively inexpensive food source, equivalent to $6 million of income ``in kind'' per community in the Baffin Region. In this era of store bought food and wage employment, Inuit communities remain economically and socially integrated through subsistence hunting. Without harvesting, northern communities would be culturally and nutritionally poorer than at any time in the past.

Details

Title
The cost-benefit relations of modern Inuit hunting: The Kapuivimiut of Foxe Basin, Northwest Territories, Canada
Author
Loring, Eric
Year
1996
Publisher
ProQuest Dissertations Publishing
ISBN
978-0-612-19904-0
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
304340097
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.